Box-magazine firearm.



No. 840,850. PATENTED JAN. 8. 1907.

T. O. JOHNSON.

BOX MAGAZINE FIREARM.

APPLICATION FILED APR.9.1906.

78E mamas PETERS cm, WASHINGTON. u c

T TED STTFO PTENT FFICE.

THOMAS C. JOHNSON, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO l/VINCHESTER REPEATING ARE IS CO., OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTI- CUT. A CORPORATION.

BOX-MAGAZINE FIREARM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 8, 1907.

To Mi, whorrz it may concern;

Be it known that I, THOMAS C. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in BozoMagazine Firearms; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accoi'npanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure l, a broken view, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section, of a take-down gun provided with my improved box-magazine housing; Fig. 2, a broken view, in side elevation, of the lower tang or guard, showing the housing; Fig. 3. a broken view, in horizontal section, on the line a b of Fig. 1 Fig. 4, a view in vertical section on the line 0 (Z of Fig. 2.

My invention relates to an improvement in detachable box-magazine guns, the object being to protect the magazine of such a gun from distortion or other injury.

Nith these ends in view my invention consists in a gun having certain, details of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

For the illustration of my invention I have shown it as applied to a take-down gun having a gun frame or receiver 2 and a lower tang or guard 3, these two main frame members being secured together by a take-down screw 4. The said lower tang 3 is provided at its forward end upon its upper face with an integral upwardly-extending box-magazine housing 5, closed at the sides and ends, but open at the top and bottom, and constituting, in effect, an upward extension of the passage 6, formed in the tang for the reception of the detachable boxanagazine 7. The said housing 5 rises, as it were, between two bearing-surfaces 3 3 (clearly shown by Fig. 4) and forming portions of the surface on which the breech-block (not shown) rides back and forth. The interior dimensions of this housing 5 conform so closely to the exterior dimensions of the sheet-metal magazine that when the same is pushed upward into the housing the upper portions of its side walls and ends are in contact with the in t-erior surfaces of the housing and are thereby reinforced and supported, for it is to be borne in mind that these magazines are formed from extremely thin and light sheet metal. The top of the housing is sufficiently closed in to constitute a stop for the upward movement of the boX magazine, but is formed wit h a longitudinal opening 8 of suflicient size to permit the cartridges 9 to be fed upward out of it, the cartridges being engaged at their rear ends by inwardly-curved lips 10 at the rear ends of the side walls of the housing and pushed forward under the said lips by the breechclosure (not shown) and then rising entirely out. of the housing as their heads clear the front ends of the said lips, after which the cartridges are pushed home into the gun-barrel 11. It may be further explained that the spring (not shown) employed for lifting the cartridges into position to be engaged and pushed forward into the gun-barrel by the breech-closure is so strong that if it were not for the housing 5 it would exert enough pressure upon the can tridges to cause them to push out the thin side walls of the box-magazine, and thus interfere with the action of the gun. Furthermore, in the case of a take-down gun when the receiver 2 and lower tang or guard 3 are taken apart the upper portion of a magazine would but for my improved housing be exposed to blows and injury and distortion in handling the take-down gun. My improve ment is peculiarly well adapted for e1nbodiment in take-down guns, though it may be employed in other guns, in which it will act, of course, to reinforce and support the thin walls of box-magazines I would therefore have it understood that I do not limit myself to the particular construction shown and described, but hold myself at liberty to make such departures therefrom as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim 1. In a box-magazine gun, the combination with a receiver, of a lower tang or guard having bearing-surfaces upon which the breech-block rides back and forth, and an integral box-magazine housing rising centrally between the said bearing-surfaces, closed at its front and rear ends as well as at its sides, and having the upper ends of its sideiwalls formed with inwardly-turned lips which stop the magazine against undue upward movement and prevent its upper end from spreading laterally, whereby the upper portion of a thin sheet-metal box-magazine is supported and reinforced.

2. In a take-down box-magazine gun, the combination with a receiver, of a lower tang or guard formed with bearing-surfaces upon which the breech-block rides back and forth, means for coupling the said receiver and tang or guard, and an integral box-magazine housing formed at the forward end of the said tang or guard and rising centrally between the said bearing-surfaces and closed at its front and rear ends as well as at its sides, and having the upper ends of its side walls formed with inwardly-turned lips which stop the magazine against undue upward movement and prevent its upper endsfrom spreading laterally, whereby the said housing supports and reinforces the upper portion of a detachable thin sheet-metal box-magazine.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS C. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

HERBERT F. BEEBE, DANIEL H. VEADER. 

